Union (N.J.) Jr. RB Jamauri BoganPhoto taken by the Bogan family, used by permission

For Union (N.J.) running back Jamauri Bogan, last season must have felt like a dream. Watching the young scat back create on the football field was reminiscent of playing Tecmo Bowl with your friends in the late eighties.

Standing 5-8 and 140 pounds at the time, Bogan was that explosive and unbelievable to watch as he produced big play after big play against each and every defensive front set out to stop him. His 2,260 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns led him to a Star Ledger first team all-state selection and Gatorade Player of the Year honors.

“It was a big honor,” Bogan said of last year’s accomplishments. “It’s something I can look back on in 20 years and I’ll be more thankful of it then than I am right now because it just happened. So I really haven’t had the time to reflect on it.

“But it’s something that I really admire and I appreciate and it’s an award that I’ll always be remembered by.”

Fast forward to 2012: things didn’t start off as picture-perfect as they left off last season. After a blue collar effort resulting in 105 yards and a touchdown (on 17 carries) against Bridgewater-Raritan to open the season, Bogan went down with a high ankle sprain on the second carry of the game in his next contest against the Elizabeth Minutemen.

Suddenly, the young star who eclipsed the 200-yard mark in seven out of 10 games as a sophomore was only a shell of himself and was forced to face the music.

However, Bogan faced his new-found adversity head-on and fought through his injury to play in every game since the injury. He went on to churn out 140 yards against Phillipsburg, 239 against Westfield and 240 against Hillsborough. In total, he has amassed 938 yards and 11 touchdowns up to this point in the season and he’s getter healthier every game he plays.

Although not yet 100 percent, Bogan claims to “almost” have achieved full recovery.

“I got hurt in the Elizabeth game and took a while to bounce back,” Bogan admitted to NJ.com. “I got it going in the next two games against Hillsborough and Westfield, then slowed down a little bit against Franklin but I still had a nice little game. And then against Plainfield this past week, I got back to my normal self.”

Now 155 pounds after putting on 15 this past offseason, Bogan feels the additional weight has helped him despite the lesser success he has had compared to his sophomore season.

“A little bit of grandma’s cooking, a little weight room, protein, that’s it,” he said of his weight gain. “It was about the same lifting regimen, but years prior, I would just lift in the spring. But this year, I decided to take off from track and lift in the winter. And I think the weight has made me better.”

Bogan’s recruitment has been somewhat quiet while he has attempted to play through the pain while nursing himself back to health during down time.

“Recruiting took a back seat to my injury. I went and focused back on the team so I put all that aside. But after the season, I can take the time to really look into that and enjoy the process,” he said.

Bogan reports offers from Georgia Tech, Temple, Old Dominion, Toledo and Umass with Georgia Tech being his early favorite.

One school that has yet to offer Bogan is the first school many thought would have: Rutgers.

“They send me game invites and stuff like that but that’s about it,” said Bogan. “They invited me to their homecoming and to all their home games, but I haven’t been able to make it there yet.”

The do-it-all junior is open to listen if the Scarlet Knights come calling with an offer.

“Of course I would listen,” he said. “They are a close school and I would look into that. They would probably have to make a harder push for me, though.”

Bogan went on to mention the traits he holds in highest regard when considering a collegiate destination.

“Campus lifestyle, I’d like to see a nice crowd every game,” he said. “It would be nice to get my parents out to every game and nice weather (is also important).”

In the meantime, Bogan is concentrating on doing what it takes to help his team make a deep playoff run. They are currently 5-2 on the year and are looking to solidify as high a seed as possible in the North II Group IV playoff race.

“We have already clinched a playoff berth, but we’re trying to decide right now what seed we are going to have. So we could end up either being a fourth or fifth seed in our section.”